Uniformed men occupy Donetsk police headquarters

Saturday

Apr 12, 2014 at 9:26 PMApr 12, 2014 at 9:35 PM

By Peter Leonard THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DONETSK, Ukraine — Men in the uniforms of Ukraine's now-defunct riot police on Saturday occupied police headquarters in Donetsk, the eastern city that is one of the flashpoints of a wave of pro-Russia protests, hours after armed men seized local police headquarters and a local branch of the Security Service in a nearby city.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov described the unrest as ''Russian aggression" and said Ukraine's security officials would be gathering for an extraordinary meeting late Saturday evening.

In Slovyansk, the mayor said the men who seized the police station were demanding a referendum on autonomy and possible annexation by Russia. Protesters in other eastern cities have made similar demands after a referendum in Crimea last month in which voters opted to split off from Ukraine, leading to annexation by Russia.

Witnesses said the men who entered the police building in Donetsk were wearing the uniforms of the Berkut, the feared riot police squad that was disbanded in February after Yanukovych's ouster. Berkut officers' violent dispersal of a demonstration in Kiev in November set off vast protests in the capital that culminated in bloodshed in February when more than 100 people died in sniper fire; the acting government says the snipers were police.

It was not immediately clear if the men who occupied the Donetsk police building had made any demands, but the Donetsk police chief said on national television that he was forced to offer his resignation. Interfax Ukraine reported that pro-Russian protesters had invited the former police chief to resume his duties.

In Slovyansk, about 20 men in balaclavas and armed with automatic rifles and pistols were guarding the entrance to the police station in the city of about 120,000 people, and another 20 were believed to be inside. They wore St. George's ribbons, which have become a symbol of pro-Russian protesters in eastern Ukraine. The ribbons were originally associated with the Soviet Union's victory in World War II.

A masked guard in Slovyansk, who gave his name only as Sergei, told The Associated Press they have ''only one demand: a referendum and joining Russia.''

The man said they seized the building because they wanted to protect it from radical nationalists from western Ukraine and ''the junta who seized power in Kiev.''

''We don't want to be slaves of America and the West,'' he said, speaking at the seized police station. ''We want to live with Russia.''

Avakov said in a Facebook post Saturday evening that unknown men opened fire on a police station in Kramatorsk, a town near Slovyansk, and police were engaged in a gunfight with them. In Krasnyi Lyman, another town in the area, men armed with Russian-made automatic rifles attacked a police station, he said.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement that the attackers in Slovyansk used tear gas and stun grenades when they stormed the building, injuring three policemen. The attackers' goal was to seize arms from the police station, authorities said, adding that there were about 40 automatic rifles and 400 pistols as well as ammunition inside.

The Interior Ministry reported later on Saturday that men from the same group have seized the building of the local Security Service.

An AP reporter saw another man loading the magazine of a pistol at the station and sympathizers building barricades outside.